Barnyard
Ages: Everyone 10+

The main pleasures of this game are carrying on behind the grownup's back, whether it be by doing funny moves behind the postman or indulging in an after hours café, and one is to know that the animals can walk on two feet. This kid's game ambles along at easy pace while the new player to the barnyard visits and talks to the barn crowd to get the rules of the game. The game picks up speed in such mini-games as Tease the Mailman and Mud Jumpers. Other activities involve collecting items for recipes -- milk, chocolate, butter and cream, finding hints in trees and under rocks and buying stuff for the barn and squirting the other animals with your udders full of milk. Most of the beginning action takes place in the barnyard, but with points scored you unlock the gate and get to Gopher hill, that golf course and Walnut Woods. Nothing is so hard as to require adult intervention. In case the player has forgotten what or why she is in one of the side treks -- the main menu "Option" will refresh the players memory. This game has been released for every platform except the Xbox.

In spite of the music, I felt that the lack of voices surprisingly annoying. Only the first and last lines of a dialog are voiced. It made the whole barnyard too silent. Barnyards are not quiet places and the silence was deafening.

The graphics are colorful and simple. In fact so simple that I couldn't make out the difference between a horse and a cow until I realized that there were different types of cows there -- Holstein, Beefmister and Agus. Just in case you pick boy cow as your avatar, just remember that there are no boy cows, only girl cows. Play with that.

Reviewed by: Editor - 08/06